Background

Stroke survivors often engage in long periods of sitting or lying down (sedentary behaviour). This can happen even when people have made a good physical recovery after their stroke. If stroke survivors spend too long sitting or lying down, they can experience poor mental and physical health. Stroke survivors need the right support to encourage them to stand and move more.

As part of a research project called RECREATE, we have developed a support package called ‘Get Set Go’ to try to encourage stroke survivors to stand and move more. As part of Get Set Go, staff from inpatient and community stroke services received training on how to support stroke survivors to stand and move more.

Stroke survivors were encouraged to write down when they were standing and moving each day. When we spoke to staff, stroke survivors and carers to get their feedback in some discussions (interviews), they said that ‘Get Set Go’ did not seem to suit all stroke survivors. We want to learn more about how to support a range of different stroke survivors (called ‘types’ in this research method) to stand and move more.

Aims & Objectives

Aim:

To use a qualitative research approach called ‘ideal types’ to conduct an analysis of patient data collected as part of the process evaluation embedded within the RECREATE trial to understand how interventions focused on reducing sedentary behaviour can be adapted to different ‘types’ of stroke survivors.

Objectives:

1. To use an ideal-type approach with engagement from stroke survivors, carers, and professionals to explore what ‘types’ of stroke survivors there are in relation to standing and moving more, and engaging in interventions like ‘Get Set Go’.

2. To engage with stroke survivors, carers, and professionals to explore how ‘Get Set Go’ can be tailored to fit with what is meaningful to different stroke survivors.

3. To engage with stroke survivors, carers, and professionals to produce recommendations for how interventions can be tailored and implemented for different types of stroke survivors

Methods

This study is an analysis of stroke survivor interview data from the RECREATE process evaluation using an ideal-type approach, combined with Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) which will be integral to the work and will inform the ‘ideal-type’ analysis.

The ideal-type approach is comprised of seven steps and involves systematically comparing the similarities and differences between participants (cases) from a data set (e.g., interviews) to form ‘ideal types.’ The ideal types are groupings of similar cases and are constructed to illustrate patterns, behaviours, thoughts, and feelings that individuals either show or describe.

The PPIE will be comprised of:

  • a ‘core group’ of stroke survivors and carers (approx. 8-10 members)
  • a ‘staff group’ of professionals from NHS settings (approx. 6-8 members), and outreach work with those not in the core group to ensure a diversity in the input towards this research.

The PPIE outlined here will contribute to two key parts of the ideal-type analysis process: constructing the types and creating descriptions of the types. They will also contribute to how interventions focused on standing and moving more should be tailored to fit different stroke survivors, and the recommendations that will be produced as an output of this research.

Partners & Collaborators

Investigators:

Chief Investigator: Dr Jess Johansson
Co-applicant team: Prof Anne Forster (joint lead applicant), Dr Kara Gray-Burrows, Rosie Shannon, Dr Jennifer Airlie, Geoffrey Render

Collaborators:

University of Leeds, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Timescales

02/09/2024- 31/08/2025

Funding agency

National Institute for Health Research – Stream B – Post-award Programme Grant

Further information

For further information contact Dr Jessica Johansson

This study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, Programme Development Grants (NIHR206938). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.